Four-hour limit on MPs to review pandemic spending ‘unfortunate, to say the least,’ PBO says GlobePolitics
Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux waits to appear before the Commons Finance committee on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Tuesday March 10, 2020.Parliament’s spending watchdog told MPs it is “unfortunate to say the least” that a government motion approved this week to suspend regular House of Commons sittings will limit a review of billions in COVID-19 spending to no more than four hours.
“These estimates are very likely to include dozens of billions of dollars in new spending, if not over a hundred billion dollars in new spending, and to have only a committee of the whole [House of Commons] look at that for a maximum of four hours, to me, it’s unfortunate, to say the least," Mr. Giroux told MPs.
In an interview, Mr. McCauley noted that normally, federal ministers would have to appear before relevant committees with their officials to defend their spending proposals and explain how the money will be used. Mr. Trudeau said that during a call Thursday with provincial and territorial premiers, concerns were expressed that adding new costs on employers in terms of additional sick day obligations would harm the economy recovery.
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